Émilie Moutard-Martin

Featherworker

©Regine Louiset

©Oettinger Davidoff

©Olivier Helbert

©Eric Valdenaire

Microcosms made of feathers

Émilie specialises in miniature feather work
She invented a process of gilding with a feather leaf
She collaborates with French luxury maisons

Émilie Moutard-Martin works with feathers to highlight the very particular features of feathers and to create new textural effects. “I did not choose featherwork, it chose me. The stories I wanted to tell could not be expressed in words," she explains. "Rather than dipping a feather in ink, I made the feather itself be the ink for my creations.” Émilie has developed a know-how in miniature featherwork and feather marquetry which allows applications on micro-surfaces, notably in the fields of jewellery and fine watchmaking. Her inspiration comes from the natural elements, and how the light dances with them. “The sensations experienced when facing the impalpable or the ephemeral make me read the immensity of the world in detail. I try to recreate a landscape in a nutshell.”

Interview

©Charlote Debauge

©Olivier Helbert

Was there a key moment that inspired you to start in this craft?: The key moment was seeing an exhibition of simple samples of feather work. I saw them as if they were impressionist paintings. This Proustian experience revived in me what we feel when we are kids, when we discover a beautiful feather on the beach and see it as a unique treasure.
What techniques are distinctive to your work?: I am fascinated by the structure of the feather itself, I had the idea of working with it in the form of a pigmentary powder and invented a flocking technique that allows me, while transforming it, to highlight its textural and coloured properties: its brilliance, its matte, its iridescences.
In what way is your craft linked to the territory?: Feather art is intercultural. It has spread throughout the world over the centuries. It cannot be confined to one place. Rather than being confined to one territory, I want to open up and travel the "feather route" – equivalent to the silk route – to meet my peers and discover their know-how.
What do you enjoy most about your profession?: Being in my studio, away from the world, elaborating, creating, shaping, repeating gestures endlessly, leads me into a meditative state. This inner journey allows me to open up to the world and to participate in the universality of emotions.

Émilie Moutard-Martin is a master artisan: she began her career in 2009 and she started teaching in 2015